A unique fusion of philosophy and metaphysics set against the backdrop of contemporary culture. Have you ever wondered if the world is really there when you're not looking? We tend to take the reality of our world very much for granted. This book will lead you down the rabbit hole in search of something we can point to, hang our hats on, and say this is real.

People who bought this also bought...

Self-Reliance

Redefining the classic essay, this modern edition of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s most famous work, Self-Reliance, includes self-reflections from both historical and contemporary luminaries. With quotes from the likes of Henry Ford and Helen Keller to modern-day thought leaders like Jesse Dylan, Steve Pressfield, and Milton Glaser, we're reminded of the relevance of Emerson’s powerful words today. Emerson’s words are timeless. Persuasive and convincing, he challenges readers to define their own sense of accomplishment and asks them to measure themselves....

How did the 360-year-old scissor company, Fiskars, double its profit in key markets just by realizing its customers had already formed a community of avid scrapbookers? How is Best Buy planning to dominate the musical-instruments market? By understanding the "Brains on Fire" model of tapping movements and stepping away from the old-school marketing "campaign" mentality.

Making Habits, Breaking Habits: Why We Do Things, Why We Don't, and How to Make Any Change Stick

Say you want to start going to the gym or practicing a musical instrument. How long should it take before you stop having to force it and start doing it automatically? The surprising answers are found in Making Habits, Breaking Habits, a leading psychologist’s popular examination of one of the most powerful and underappreciated processes in the brain. Although people like to think that they are in control, the vast majority of human behavior occurs without any decision-making or conscious thought.

Writing Down Your Soul: How to Activate and Listen to the Extraordinary Voice Within

You could pray, or meditate, or dream, or visit a shaman, or a minister, or a hypnotherapist. With so many routes into inner consciousness, why write? Of all the ways to get in touch with God, as you understand God...to hear the small, still voice pointing you in the right direction...why take the time to write? One reason: it works. It works amazingly well. If you want to engage in a vibrant conversation with the wisdom that dwells just a hair below your conscious awareness, write.

Classical Mythology

These 24 lectures are a vibrant introduction to the primary characters and most important stories of classical Greek and Roman mythology. Among those you'll investigate are the accounts of the creation of the world in Hesiod's Theogony and Ovid's Metamorphoses; the gods Zeus, Apollo, Demeter, Persephone, Hermes, Dionysos, and Aphrodite; the Greek heroes, Theseus and Heracles (Hercules in the Roman version); and the most famous of all classical myths, the Trojan War.

Bird Sense: What It's Like to Be a Bird

What is it like to be a swift, flying at over one hundred kilometres an hour? Or a kiwi, plodding flightlessly among the humid undergrowth in the pitch dark of a New Zealand night? And what is going on inside the head of a nightingale as it sings, and how does its brain improvise? Bird Sense addresses questions like these and many more, by describing the senses of birds that enable them to interpret their environment and to interact with each other.

Sucker's Portfolio: A Collection of Previously Unpublished Writing

Available to listeners for the first time, Sucker’s Portfolio showcases a collection of seven never-before-published works from Kurt Vonnegut, one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. Short, sardonic, and dark, these six brief fiction stories and one non-fiction piece are consummate Vonnegut with piercing satire and an eye for life’s obscene inanity. Also available for the first time is an unfinished science-fiction short story, included in the appendix.

You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life

Bestselling author, speaker, and world-traveling success coach Jen Sincero cuts through the din of the self-help genre with her own verbal meat cleaver in You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life. In this refreshingly blunt how-to guide, Sincero serves up twenty-seven bite-sized chapters full of hilariously inspiring stories, life-changing insights, easy exercises, and the occasional swear word.

Short Stories

This volume of short essays and other pieces by C. S. Lewis is part of a larger collection, C. S. Lewis: Essay Collection and Other Short Pieces. In addition to his many books, letters, and poems, C. S. Lewis wrote a great number of essays and shorter pieces on various subjects. He wrote extensively on Christian theology and the defense of faith but also on ethical issues and the nature of literature and storytelling. Within this audiobook is a treasure trove of Lewis' reflections on diverse topics.

The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World

Niall Ferguson follows the money to tell the human story behind the evolution of finance, from its origins in ancient Mesopotamia to the latest upheavals on what he calls Planet Finance. Bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot, lucre, moolah, readies, the wherewithal: Call it what you like, it matters. To Christians, love of it is the root of all evil. To generals, it's the sinews of war. To revolutionaries, it's the chains of labor. Niall Ferguson shows that finance is in fact the foundation of human progress.

Trustee from the Toolroom

Keith Stewart, a retiring and ingenious engineer, could not have been happier in his little house in the shabby London suburb of Ealing. There he invented the mini-motor, the six-volt generator, and the tiny Congreve clock. Then a chain of events sweeps him into deep waters and leads him to his happiest discovery yet.

The Disaster Diaries: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Apocalypse

Sam Sheridan has been an amateur boxer, mixed martial arts fighter, professional wilderness firefighter, EMT, sailor, and cowboy, and has worked in construction at the South Pole. If he isn't ready for the apocalypse, we're all in a lot of trouble. But when Sam had his son and settled down, he was beset with nightmares about being unable to protect him. Sam decided to face his fears head-on, embarking on a quest to gain as many skills as possible that might come in handy should the world as we know it end....

Customs of the World: Using Cultural Intelligence to Adapt, Wherever You Are

Based on groundbreaking research, these 24 lectures address dynamics and customs related to working, socializing, dining, marriage and family - all the areas necessary to help you function with a greater level of respect and effectiveness wherever you go. You'll also encounter practical tips and crucial context for greeting, interacting with, and even managing people from other parts of the world.

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding. His starting point is moral intuition - the nearly instantaneous perceptions we all have about other people and the things they do. These intuitions feel like self-evident truths, making us righteously certain that those who see things differently are wrong. Haidt shows us how these intuitions differ across cultures, including the cultures of the political left and right.

Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivals That Ignited the Space Age

On October 4, 1957, a time of Cold War paranoia, the Soviet Union secretly launched the Earth's first artificial moon. No bigger than a basketball, the tiny satellite was powered by a car battery. Yet, for all its simplicity, Sputnik stunned the world.

The Currents of Space

High above the planet Florinia, the Squires of Sark live in unimaginable wealth and comfort. Down in the eternal spring of the planet, however, the native Florinians labor ceaselessly to produce the precious kyrt that brings prosperity to their Sarkite masters. Rebellion is unthinkable and impossible. Living among the workers of Florinia, Rik is a man without a memory or a past. He has been abducted and brainwashed.

A dazzling tour of the universe as Einstein saw it. How did Albert Einstein come up with the theories that changed the way we look at the world? By thinking in pictures. Michio Kaku, leading theoretical physicist (a cofounder of string theory) and best-selling science storyteller, shows how Einstein used seemingly simple images to lead a revolution in science. With originality and expertise, Kaku uncovers the surprising beauty that lies at the heart of Einstein's cosmos

Economics: Making sense of the Modern Economy: The Economist

A radically revised new edition of this highly readable, popular guide aimed at everyone from students to statesmen who want to make sense of the modern economy and grasp how economic theory works in practice. It starts with the basics, and from the underlying theory it moves to the specifics of the world economy, including an analysis of the recent recession. The closing part puts the usefulness and the failings of economics under the spotlight, and looks at the innovative approaches being developed to address these failings.

Mark Twain's Helpful Hints for Good Living: A Handbook for the Damned Human Race

Irreverent, charming, and eminently quotable, this handbook - an eccentric etiquette guide for the human race - contains 69 aphorisms, anecdotes, whimsical suggestions, maxims, and cautionary tales from Mark Twain’s private and published writings. It dispenses advice and reflections on family life and public manners; opinions on topics such as dress, health, food, and childrearing and safety; and more specialized tips, such as those for dealing with annoying salesmen and burglars.

Ask Deepak About Love & Relationships

Reflections, thoughts, and inspirations on big questions about love and relationships from writer and philosopher Deepak Chopra. Join the New York Times bestselling author on a journey of personal, social, global, and spiritual transformation to ease your mind and soul. The Ask Deepak series was created to encourage people to live healthier, fuller lives and to be more aware. Deepak Chopra delivers this inspiring project for personal and global transformation. Learn about spirituality, wellness, healthy living, and humor, as they relate to love and relationships, and much more.

The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet

In August 2006, the International Astronomical Union voted Pluto out of planethood. Far from the sun, tiny, and eccentric in orbit, it's a wonder Pluto has any fans. Yet during the mounting debate over Pluto's status, Americans rallied behind the extraterrestrial underdog.

Automate This: How Algorithms Came to Rule Our World

It used to be that to diagnose an illness, interpret legal documents, analyze foreign policy, or write a newspaper article you needed a human being with specific skills - and maybe an advanced degree or two. These days, high-level tasks are increasingly being handled by algorithms that can do precise work not only with speed but also with nuance. These "bots" started with human programming and logic, but now their reach extends beyond what their creators ever expected.

Language A to Z

Linguistics, the study of language, has a reputation for being complex and inaccessible. But here's a secret: There's a lot that's quirky and intriguing about how human language works-and much of it is downright fun to learn about. But with so many potential avenues of exploration, it can often seem daunting to try to understand it. Where does one even start?

The Demon Under The Microscope

The Nazis discovered it. The Allies won the war with it. It conquered diseases, changed laws, and single-handedly launched the era of antibiotics. This incredible discovery was sulfa, the first antibiotic medication. In The Demon Under the Microscope, Thomas Hager chronicles the dramatic history of the drug that shaped modern medicine.

Publisher's Summary

A unique fusion of philosophy and metaphysics set against the backdrop of contemporary culture. Have you ever wondered if the world is really there when you're not looking? We tend to take the reality of our world very much for granted. This book will lead you down the rabbit hole in search of something we can point to, hang our hats on, and say this is real.

Along the way Jim Baggott presents the important arguments concerning the nature reality as examined by the world's greatest thinkers from the philosophers of ancient Greece to modern scientists and social theorists and takes on materialism, perception, and progress in a refreshingly new and entertaining way.

In last five or so years that I have been listening to audio books, I have chosen to listen to several nonfiction books on philosopy and even more on science, learning from all and enjoying most. Today I finished A Beginner's Guide to Reality by Jim Baggott and have decided that it is the best of those listens in which the author tried to reconcile science and philosophy as methods of determing what is real and what is not. Baggott develops his discussion chronologically by beginning with Sccrates, Plato, and Aristotle's explanations of reality. He furthers follows the philosophical discussions of this topic through the recent contributors. He makes these discussions interesting by illustrating using pop icons like the movie, "The Matrix." As building a continuum between philosophy and science, he discusses scientists earliest efforts to define what is reaal and follows their changing positions on the subject through the most recent arguments for modified string theory and that elusive "Theory of Everything." I highly recommend this listen to anyone for whom reality is still a mystery worth solving.

I love the perspectives entertained in this unusual and profound audio. The first listening was awesome... listening to it the second time has caused me to consider how a third listening could, maybe, reveal the way out of the rabbit hole this book helped my perspectives slide down into.

Who was your favorite character and why?

All of the scientists and philosophers mentioned in "A Beginner's Guide to Reality" are my favorite characters.

What does Victor Bevine bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Reading the book would have been difficult, for me, because I'd still be reading the thing due to its thought-provoking nature. I'd simply have to bookmark most chapters so I could read the works of every one of the great thinkers mentioned in this book as well as watch the entire Matrix series again before I picked up where I left off.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

The Lemon experiment. I did what was suggested (get a lemon, and involve all my senses by seeing it, tasting it, smelling it, touching it, and listening to the song about it as suggested by the author... & etc.). Then, of course, I squeezed the thing into a glass of water and drank it afterwards just for fun.

Any additional comments?

Everything I heard while listening to Victor Bevine's narration of Jim Baggott's work, "A Beginner's Guide to Reality," was to some degree or another relatively mind-gripping to the point where I'm not so sure that what I perceive is/was/will be really... uh... REAL. How exciting

The first part, which I found very interesting, was a historical account of the philosophical arguments about reality. I think that I had heard most of these at one time or the other, but this author did an excellent job summarizing and tying them together.

The second part of the book I found less interesting. It was mostly a scientific discussion of quantum mechanics and other theories.

I suppose that the author intended to show that in these details of science we are back to the same old philosophical arguments that we couldn't answer before. This was an interesting argument but all of the details of all the science (e.g., quantum entanglement) started to bore me.

No. The author is obsessed with the movie "The Matrix" and makes a lot of comparisons to different aspects of the movie. I found that very tedious.

Would you recommend A Beginner???s Guide to Reality to your friends? Why or why not?

No. Not unless they were also obsessed with "The Matrix".

Any additional comments?

First of all...I don't like this format for reviewing. I would rather say what I want without being structured.

The book was not so much about questioning reality as it was our perception of reality. I thought it was going to be a bit more philosophical. An example would be our monetary system. Money is printed on paper. It's value is determined and we all abide by the decision that each has it's own value...so that's our reality. Blah.

Your report has been received. It will be reviewed by Audible and we will take appropriate action.

Can't wait to hear more from this listener?

You can now follow your favorite reviewers on Audible.

When you follow another listener, we'll highlight the books they review, and even email* you a copy of any new reviews they write. You can un-follow a listener at any time to stop receiving their updates.

* If you already opted out of emails from Audible you will still get review emails by the listeners you follow.